Fare thee well, Gyamfi: Giant of African football

Charles Kumi Gyamfi, who died last Wednesday aged 86, was a giant of African football.

He was one of the few remnants of the pioneering generation of players, coaches and administrators who came to prominence during the colonial period and who assumed leadership positions in the newly born republics.

The children of independence looked up to this generation as path-finders and drew immense inspiration from them.

Their fame spread like a forest fire and reached far beyond their borders as a new Africa struggled to make its mark on the world stage. This is the generation that challenged the status quo and won. They became legends in their own life-times.

Gyamfi’s death is therefore a loss not only to his native Ghana, the Black Star state that was first to attain independence in 1957, but Africa’s as well.

Sadness reverberates across the continent wherever the beautiful game is played, which is everywhere. His passing is like the falling of a baobab tree, an event that changes the landscape fundamentally and stares back at you with a haunting emptiness.

We in Kenya were lucky to partake of Gyamfi’s skills and brotherly friendship when he sojourned here after an exceptionally inspired decision by AFC Leopards to hire him as coach in the years 1988-1991.

We quickly grew to respect and even love this soft-spoken gentle soul who cut a fatherly figure in whatever gathering he was in. The parental aura that surrounded him made you measure your words when addressing him, even when you were critical of his tactics.

When you think of Charles Gyamfi, an entire era comes to mind. Kwame Nkrumah, who used football in his dream of a United States of Africa and told Gyamfi and his colleagues to ask for whatever they wanted so as to make this happen.

Sekou Toure, who gave Nkrumah refuge after his overthrow and made him co-president of Guinea. Toure was also obsessed with football and the story of his Hafia FC is well documented.

Gyamfi’s playing and coaching career spanned the creation of the Confederation of Africa Football, Caf, in 1957. Ghana did not take part in the first Nation’s Cup which featured only Sudan (hosts), Egypt and Ethiopia.

But under him, the Black Stars became and still remain a giant of the tournament. He won it three times – in 1963, 1965 and 1982 – a record that was only later equaled by Egypt’s Hassan Shehata.

His name is mentioned in the same narrative as Egypt’s Abdel Aziz Abdallah Salem, CAF’s founding president and Yednekatchew Tessema, the Ethiopian who held Caf’s reigns from 1972 to 1987.

This assortment of presidents, football players and coaches and Caf chiefs is what made the African game what it is today – a force to reckon with in the world though so much remains to be done.

Gyamfi first came to Kenya in 1965 as coach of the Black Stars, then the reigning Nations Cup champions. The fixture was a Jamhuri Day game against the Kenya national team.

Jomo Kenyatta’s political establishment was upbeat about the match, taking place on the first anniversary of the country becoming a republic. But they were woefully oblivious of the shambles in the squad whose coach, Peter Oronge, went missing without a word hours before the match.

MAINTAINED HIS COMPOSURE

The team was taken over by Ray Batchelor, a man bursting with optimism. His face soon turned red as Kenya were buried in an avalanche of goals, 13-2.

It remains the worst defeat suffered by Kenya to this day. But Gyamfi didn’t crow. He maintained his composure and then proceeded to respectfully but methodically prescribe what he thought the problem with Kenya was and how it could be solved.

In tribute to his memory, I reproduce here what he told the Daily Nation on the day after the massive rout: “Your soccer administrators must get down to the job of coaching soccer right down at village level and work it up through the schools, university, regional and club levels to international class.

“We in Ghana found ourselves in the same position as Kenya is today back in 1958. A Central Organization for Sport was then formed, with Mr. Ohene Djan as its director.

“Mr. Djan imported six foreign coaches – two Hungarians, an Italian, an Englishman, a German and a Swede. One of these was appointed national coach and the other five were used to organise the technical aspects of the game at regional level.

“The regional coaches taught the fundamentals of the game, and before their two- year terms ended they were teaching the finer techniques and tactics.

While these men were still in Ghana, the COS sent two international players to be trained as coaches in West Germany. When they returned, I was sent to Germany. On my return, I was appointed deputy national coach, then national coach.

“We now have a total of 13 trained local coaches. I attend refresher courses overseas, and then pass on what I have learned to our local coaches.

This vast coaching program was the spring-board for a team like the Black Stars.

“Kenya need not send coaches overseas for training. There are countries in Africa which can provide coaching courses which compare favorably with any in the world. What we really need in Africa is a Football Coaches Association.

This could help in the allocation of available coaches to countries in need of this aid.

“Another important factor is government aid. All governments should realise that sport is one of their best investments.”

Who will tell the Government of Kenya that sport can be one of the most lucrative investments against religious extremism and radicalisation?

Who will tell them that they shouldn’t think of investments only in massive projects like stadiums, important though they are?

What is the cost of setting up a volleyball court, for instance? Well, it becomes tricky only when you have got to recover grabbed land from a key party official or supporter.

SUFFERED OUR WORST DEFEAT

Charles Gyamfi was a founding father of the Black Stars, first as a player and then as a coach. If you love the Black Stars, you owe him a debt of gratitude.

We suffered our worst defeat at the hands of his free flowing African champions – and then he came to coach one of our own.

In 1982, his charges, Abedi Pele, Kwasi Appiah, Opoku Nti, George Alhassan and the rest of the squad that took the Nations Cup for a fourth time repeatedly displayed that sublime elegance reserved only for those born with it and who have had the fortune of having it refined by a master tactician. Not without exaggeration, some people called the Black Stars the Brazilians of Africa.

And we, too, have had our soaring moments. No AFC Leopards match was ever complete without the beating of drums. Gyamfi’s death feels like the splitting of well-worn drum, never to beat again.

One feels immense sadness at this because a new one will take time to sound as good.

If the club was not utterly preoccupied with navigating its narrowest financial straits, it could have come together to organize one last game in memory of its legendary trainer and say to him: Thank you for having been one of us.

Thank you for the good times. Thank you for being Ghanaian and for bringing your great football heritage to us. Now enjoy the peace that passes all understanding.

I doubt this will happen. I suppose, in these mellow circumstances when my thoughts are with those of the hero who has just fallen, and the family he has left behind, I would be in order not to get angry, not to bang the table with my fist, not to utter expletives but just to cry quietly for what our game has become.

Charles Kumi Gyamfi, you tried to make us champions like you did to the people of your homeland but we failed to respond. Forgive us.

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I am sure by now you know who is in town. Zambia, yes, that’s who. Are you scared? Me, am feeling my stomach muscles tightening – and am not doing sit-ups. I have just reminded you that in 1965, Charles Gyamfi’s Black Stars inflicted the worst ever defeat in the history of Harambee Stars.

13-2. Do you know who attempted to copy them and almost succeeded? Zambia. Yes, the guys in town. With difficulty, we managed to restrict them to 9-0. It is the second worst defeat in our history.

It happened like this: In November, 1978, Harambee Stars went to Malawi for that year’s Cecafa Challenge Cup. The other teams in the competition were Uganda, Somalia, Zambia and Malawi of course – the hosts.

It wasn’t long before things turned thick. An extraordinary man called Godfrey Chitalu – the best striker I have ever seen in my life – simply cut open our defence. Before half time, he scored two goals and was in the mix when Kaiser Kalambo and Alex Chola – another fantastic forward – added two more for a 4-0 half time lead.

Boniface Simutowe – these names are giving me goose pimples – fired in number five. By this time, our defence was as cohesive as that of Brazil against Germany in that World Cup semi-final that still gives me high blood pressure when I remember it.

After Simutowe had done his thing, Chitalu was at it again for his hat-trick and Zambia’s goal number six. At length, Jani Simulambo, Patrick Phiri and Bernard Chanda finished the job, facilitating our coach Jonathan Niva to lose his.

I am strongly consoled by the fact that history does not win matches. (And this is not Cecafa, so the question of repeating itself does not arise).

My country is playing one of my all-time favourite African teams and which has shown itself to have great capacity for destruction. Denis the Menace, please see what you can do about this problem. Thank you.